UPDATE ON GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION
AT BROOKHAVEN LAB SITE

Upton, NY, January 31 - The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National
Laboratory announced on January 18 that tritium contamination had been found
in the groundwater in the center of the BNL site. The latest round of sampling
shows tritium levels in groundwater that are 11 times the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's drinking water standard.

The tritium was found in two monitoring wells recently installed
about 100 feet south of the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR), one of the Lab's
two research reactors. The wells were sampled in October and December of
1996 and several times this January. The concentrations increased significantly
between October and now. Tritium contamination above the drinking water
standard was first seen on January 8, in results of analysis of water samples
from the monitoring wells. That analysis showed the tritium contamination
to be about twice the EPA drinking water standard. Brookhaven Lab immediately
began an investigation of the contamination.

The tritium data announced today come from temporary monitoring
wells installed over the past two weeks as part of BNL's investigation to
determine the extent of the contamination and help locate the source.

Brookhaven Lab is committed to remediating the groundwater to
assure protection of public health.

Results to date indicate that on-site drinking water at the Lab
is not contaminated with tritium. BNL's potable supply wells are located
north of the tritium contamination, in the opposite direction of groundwater
flow, and tap water is sampled daily for radioactivity.

To date, tritium has also not been detected above the drinking
water standard in monitoring wells at BNL's southern boundary, in the path
of groundwater flowing south from the tritium contamination near the reactor.
The Lab plans to increase sampling frequency at its southern monitoring
wells and at its monitoring wells south of the site boundary. Homes immediately
south of the Laboratory are hooked up to public water, which is also tested
for radioactivity.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is a byproduct
of Lab operations.

The HFBR had been shut down in December for routine maintenance
and will remain shut down until the situation is satisfactorily understood
by both DOE and Brookhaven Lab.

The High Flux Beam Reactor is a world-class research reactor
that provides beams of neutrons for scientists from around the world, in
disciplines ranging from biology and chemistry to physics and materials
science.

Brookhaven National Laboratory carries out basic and applied
research in physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and in selected
energy technologies. Associated Universities, Inc., a nonprofit research
management organization, operates the Laboratory under contract with the
U.S. Department of Energy.